Clement could be facing his swansong
PAUL CLEMENT faces the possibility of being sacked as Swansea head coach should his team lose Saturday’s crunch Premier League relegation match with Crystal Palace.
Swansea are bottom of the table and four points from safety, their 3-1 defeat at Everton on Monday being the team’s eighth loss in their past 10 matches.
American owners Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien have long planned to give Clement the chance to turn things around and hand him the opportunity to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window with at least three new signings.
But with Swansea having won just three league games all season, there is increasing concern at the team’s poor results and confidence.
Clement worked miracles to keep Swansea in the top flight after being appointed last January but was never able to replace star men Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente, who were sold in the summer.
It left the 45-year-old going into his first full season with a squad not well equipped to make a mark in the Premier League and the result has been predictable.
Importantly, he still has the support of the players.
“We are behind Paul, he is a great manager and he did the job here last year,” said striker Tammy Abraham.
“We can do it again, we just need the right performance and for results to go our way. Paul lets you know when times are tough and when worryingly low things are going well. He is honest with us, no matter what, but heads are never down at training.
“We need to keep pushing and digging in.”
Swansea were bottom with just 12 points when Clement succeeded Bob Bradley and there was optimism at the start of this campaign of building on some impressive end-of-season form. It never materialised, with the signing of Bayern Munich loan flop Renato Sanches summing up the team’s displays.
There is a feeling Clement must guide Swansea to three points against Palace or face the very real consequence of the sack.
Asked if Swansea were playing for Clement’s future this weekend, Abraham said: “We can’t think like that. We know we have to show something and give everyone a good performance. We have the tools here, but it is about us as players producing for Paul and doing as much as we can for him.”
Clement admits his side’s plight is something of an alien concept but he is determined to battle it out.
Having spent so long as assistant to Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern, Clement is used to those statistics being reversed.
“It’s a difficult job being a manager, any team, any level,” he said. “You want to play well and win every game. As an assistant I was used to losing one in 10 and winning nine, now it is completely the opposite.
“It is not a nice experience but I’m learning a lot from it and learning a lot about myself. I’ll keep fighting. I’ve worked hard to get to this position and I’m not going to give up on it. I’ll keep going.”